Struggling seniors' holiday wish list in Johnsburg

Home Instead Senior Care, a provider of non-medical, in-home care and companionship services for older adults, is teaming up with non-profit agencies and area retailers to sponsor Be a Santa to a Senior – a program that collects, wraps and delivers gifts to lonely and needy seniors.

Joining the area Home Instead Senior Care network to provide gifts and companionship to seniors is the Wal-Mart in Johnsburg.

“Seniors faced with medical bills and the high cost of living can find they have little left at the end of the year,” said Susan Phelan, owner of the regional Home Instead Senior Care office. “That’s not the only issue, though. Personal needs may become magnified for so many living alone with no one to share their problems.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 9 percent of U.S. seniors 65 and older are living in poverty and 27 percent are widowed.

To help these struggling seniors, pick up ornaments with the first names of seniors and their gift requests from a Christmas tree which will be located at the Wal-Mart, 3801 Running Brook Farm Blvd., Johnsburg, Nov. 16 through Dec. 27;

Buy items on the list and return them unwrapped to the location, along with the ornaments attached. A community gift-wrapping event, when hundreds of the presents will be wrapped, will be held Dec. 17 at 4736 N. Marine Drive, Chicago.

“Helping a needy older adult can bring fulfillment to the giver as well as the receiver – it does make a difference,” Phelan said.